[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 216 (Monday, November 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69188-69193]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28416]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: 2016 Census Test.
OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
Form Number(s):
Questionnaire
DF-1(ES)
[[Page 69189]]
DF-1(EC)
DF-1(EK)
Instruction Card
DF-33(ES)
DF-33(EC)
DF-33(EK)
Questionnaire Cover Letters
DF-16(L2)(ES)
DF-16(L2)(EC)
DF-16(L2)(EK)
DF-16(L4)(ES)
DF-16(L4)(EC)
DF-16(L4)(EK)
DF-17(L2)(ES)
DF-17(L2)(EC)
DF-17(L2)(EK)
Postcards/Reminder Letter
DF-9L(ES)
DF-9B(ES)
DF-9B(EC)
DF-9B(EK)
DF-9(2B)(ES)
DF-9(2B)(EC)
DF-9(2B)(EK)
DF-9C(ES)
DF-9C(EC)
DF-9C(EK)
DF-9(2C)(ES)
DF-9(2C)(EC)
DF-9(2C)(EK)
DF-9(AR)(1)
Languages Brochures
DF-12
DF-14
Information Insert
DF-17(TQA)
DF-17I(ES)
DF-17I(EC)
DF-17I(EK)
Envelopes
DF-6A(1)(IN)(ES)
DF-6A(IN)(ES)
DF-6U(IN)
DF-6U(1)(IN)
DF-8A(ES)
DF-8A(EC)
DF-8A(EK)
DF-5(ES)
Field Materials
DF-26B
DF-28(ES)
DF-28(EC)
DF-28(EK)
Internet Instrument Spec
COMPASS (NRFU/QA RI) Spec
Reinterview Instrument Spec (Coverage)
Type of Request: New Collection.
Number of Respondents: 412,348.
Average Hours per Response: 0.2.
Burden Hours: 68,954.
Estimated burden hours for 2016 Census Test:
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Estimated Estimated time Estimated
Type of respondent/operation number of per response total annual
respondents (minutes) burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self Response................................................... 250,000 10 41,667
NRFU............................................................ 120,000 10 20,000
NRFU Quality Control Reinterview................................ 12,000 10 2,000
Non-ID Manual Processing--phone followup........................ 400 5 33
Coverage Reinterview............................................ 24,500 10 4,084
Non-ID Response Validation...................................... 5,000 10 834
Focus Group Selection Contacts.................................. 288 3 15
Focus Group Participants........................................ 160 120 320
-----------------------------------------------
Totals...................................................... 412,348 .............. 68,954
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Needs and Uses: During the years preceding the 2020 Census, the
Census Bureau is pursuing its commitment to reduce the cost of
conducting the census while maintaining the quality of the results. A
primary decennial census cost driver is the collection of data in
person from addresses for which the Census Bureau received no reply via
initially offered response options. We refer to these as nonresponse
cases, and the efforts we make to collect data from these cases as the
Nonresponse Followup, or NRFU, operation.
The 2016 Census Test will allow the Census Bureau to build upon
past tests, to refine our plans and methods associated with the
reengineered field operations for the NRFU operation of the Census.
Namely, this test will allow us to:
Test refinements to the ratios of field enumerators to
field supervisors.
Test refinements to our enhanced operational control
system, including the way we assign work to field staff, and how those
assignments are routed.
Test alternatives to government furnished equipment for
data collection, such as enumerator use of personally owned devices
(sometimes known as Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD), or devices
provided by a private company as part of a contract for wireless
service (sometimes known as Device As A Service).
Test refinements to our use of administrative records to
reduce the NRFU workload.
Test new methods of conducting NRFU quality control
reinterviews.
Increasing the number of people who take advantage of self response
options (such as responding online, completing a paper questionnaire
and mailing it back to the Census Bureau, or responding via telephone)
can contribute to a less costly census. The Census Bureau has committed
to using the Internet as a primary response option in the 2020 Census,
and we are studying ways to offer and promote this option to
respondents. In addition to increasing and optimizing self response
through the Internet, the Census Bureau plans to test the impacts of
providing additional materials to respondents as part of their first
mailing along with a letter invitation. One example of additional
material is an insert to be included for traditionally hard-to-count
populations. We will also test a tailored envelope treatment to
determine whether this represents an effective way to encourage and
support self response for respondents who speak languages other than
English. We also will continue to study the option of allowing people
to respond on the Internet without having or using a unique
identification code previously supplied by the Census Bureau. Each of
these will be discussed in more detail in subsequent sections of this
supporting statement.
2016 Census Test--Los Angeles County (Part), California and Harris
County (Part), Texas
The areas within Los Angeles County (part), California and Harris
County (part), Texas were chosen based on a variety of
characteristics--including language diversity, demographic diversity,
varying levels of Internet usage, large metropolitan areas and high
vacancy rates. These characteristics can
[[Page 69190]]
help the Census Bureau refine its operational plans for the 2020 Census
by testing operational procedures on traditionally hard-to-count
populations. The tests will allow for our continued development of
providing additional ways for the population to respond to the once-a-
decade census, as well as more cost-effective ways for census takers to
follow up with households that fail to respond.
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Los Angeles County (part), California, places and census designated
places (CDP)
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Alhambra city
Los Angeles city
Montebello city
Monterey Park city
Pasadena city
Rosemead city
San Gabriel city
San Marino city
South El Monte city
South Pasadena city
Temple City city
East Los Angeles CDP
East Pasadena CDP
East San Gabriel CDP
San Pasqual CDP
South San Gabriel CDP
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Harris County (part), Texas, places
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Bunker Hill Village city
Hedwig Village city
Hilshire Village city
Houston city
Hunters Creek Village city
Jersey Village city
Piney Point Village city
Spring Valley Village city
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To increase Internet self response rates, the Census Bureau will
improve contact and notification strategies that were studied in prior
testing. The core of our contact strategy is an Internet-push strategy,
which was previously tested in the 2012 National Census Test, 2014
Census Test and the 2015 Optimizing Self Response and Census Tests and
is now being further refined. We also introduced a supplemental contact
strategy in the 2015 National Content Test, the Internet Choice panel,
which we will continue to study in the 2016 Census Test. In the 2016
Census Test, improvements to this approach will be tested by modifying
the content of our messages, including materials in the mailing
packages.
We also will continue our efforts to make it easier for respondents
by allowing them to respond without providing a pre-assigned
identification (ID) number associated with their address. This response
option, referred to as ``Non-ID,'' was successfully implemented on the
Internet in the 2014 and 2015 Census Tests. In this test, we will
continue to develop the infrastructure to deploy real-time processing
of Non-ID responses. Specifically, we will implement automated
processing of Non-ID responses in a cloud-based environment instead of
using Census Bureau hardware. This work will help us prepare for
conducting Non-ID Processing at the scale we anticipate for 2020. In
addition, we will be conducting a manual matching and geocoding
operation for Non-ID responses that could not be matched to a record in
the Census address list, or assigned to a census block during automated
processing. Some of this processing will require Census staff to call
respondents to obtain further information, such as missing address
items that could help us obtain a match to a record in the Census
address list. In some cases, we may also ask for the respondent's
assistance in accurately locating their living quarters on a map so
that we can associate the response to the correct census block, which
is required for data tabulation.
The 2016 Census Test will be comprised of four phases: Self
Response, NRFU (with a reinterview component), Coverage Reinterview,
and focus groups.
Self Response
We will implement an ``Internet Push'' contact strategy, which
involves first sending a letter inviting people to respond via the
Internet; then sending up to two postcard reminders to non-responding
addresses; and ultimately sending a paper questionnaire to addresses
that still have not responded. The Census Bureau will directly contact
up to 250,000 addresses in each site to request self response via one
of the available response modes (Internet, telephone, paper). Materials
included in the mailing explain the test and provide information on how
to respond. The impact of message content on self response will be
tested by varying the content of the mailing packages in the ``Internet
Push'' for different panels. Specifically, we will test language that
addresses how participation in the Census benefits respondents'
communities and cite the mandatory nature of the census. Mail panels
targeting limited English proficiency (LEP) households will include a
language insert as part of the contact strategy. LEP households
represent a subsample of housing units in each test location. We also
plan to include the Census Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on
envelopes with messaging in multiple languages for a panel of housing
units. This is intended to serve as a prompt for LEP respondents to
access the Census URL without needing to read a letter written in a
language in which they are not fluent. An ``Internet Choice'' panel
will also be tested; which involves first sending a questionnaire with
a letter inviting people to respond via the Internet or by using the
questionnaire; then sending up to two postcard reminders to non-
responding addresses; and ultimately sending a second paper
questionnaire to addresses that still have not responded. The design of
the mail panels is fully described in Supporting Statement B.
In addition to supporting Non-ID self response and conducting
manual processing of Non-ID returns when required, we will take steps
to identify duplicate or potentially fraudulent Non-ID responses. For
all Non-ID responses, we will compare response data to information
contained in commercial lists and Federal administrative records
maintained within the Census Bureau. This will help validate
respondent-provided data as well as examine the gaps in coverage we
might have in currently available administrative records datasets.
Last, in order to confirm the results from the records linkage, we will
conduct a Response Validation operation to recollect the response data
for an estimated sample of 5,000 of the Non-ID returns. This will
likely be performed as a combination of telephone interviews and in-
person visits, but the proportions of each of these are still to be
determined.
Telephone questionnaire assistance will be available to all
respondents. In addition, on-line respondents will be provided with
pre-defined ``Help'' screens or ``Frequently Asked Questions''
accessible through the Internet instrument. People who prefer not to
respond via a paper form or on the Internet can also call the telephone
questionnaire assistance number and speak to an agent to complete the
questionnaire for their household.
Content Tests Objectives in Self Response and Nonresponse Followup Data
Collection
The 2016 Census Test questionnaire will include questions on
housing tenure, household roster, age, sex/gender, date of birth, race
and Hispanic origin, and relationship. Based on results from the 2010
Race and Hispanic Origin Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (Compton,
et al. 2012 \1\), the 2016 Census Test will include a
[[Page 69191]]
combined race and Hispanic origin question intended to build on what is
being tested in the 2015 National Content Test. This combined question
provides examples and write-in areas for each major response category,
including a response category for Middle Eastern and North African
ethnicities. With this combined question format no separate ``Hispanic
origin'' question is used. Rather, Hispanic ethnicity or origin is
measured within the single item. Respondents are asked to self-identify
by selecting one or more checkboxes, and to write-in a specific origin
for each checkbox selected. The 2016 Census Test allows us to test
responses to these questions in geographic areas with different race
and Hispanic Origin concentrations from the prior test areas.
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\1\ Compton, E., Bentley. M., Ennis, S., Rastogi, S., (2012),
``2010 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Alternative Questionnaire
Experiment,'' DSSD 2010 CPEX Memorandum Series #B-05-R2, U.S. Census
Bureau.
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The inclusion of the combined question will also allow the Census
Bureau to conduct imputation research using this combined format in a
setting when there are self responses, administrative records and NRFU
enumerator responses. This will allow the Census Bureau to understand
imputation approaches needed for a combined question.
We also plan to test variation in terminology by comparing ``Am.''
with ``American'' in the response category ``Black or African Am.'' on
the Internet instrument. This research is being undertaken to assess
the impact of different wording for the racial category that collects
and tabulates data for the African American, African, and Afro-
Caribbean populations. This test will provide insights to how
respondents identify with the race category, depending on the wording
used to describe the category itself (``Black or African Am.'' vs.
``Black or African American'').
For the relationship question, we plan to include variations in
question wording associated with ``non-relatives.'' We will compare
responses to a relationship question with, and without, the response
categories ``roomer or boarder'' and ``housemate or roommate.''
Cognitive testing has repeatedly shown that respondents do not know
what the Census Bureau sees as the differences between these
categories.
The 2016 Census Test will continue to include the response
categories recommended by the OMB Interagency Working Group (see
section 11 of this document--Justification for Sensitive Questions) for
opposite-sex and same-sex husband/wife/spouse households, and for the
category for unmarried partner.
The 2016 Census Test will include a question on the Internet
instrument that will allow respondents to report that a housing unit
they own is vacant as of Census Day, and to provide the reason for the
vacancy status (e.g., a seasonal or rental unit). Collecting these data
from respondents may allow the Census Bureau to identify some vacant
housing units during self response so they can be removed from NRFU
operations.
The Census Bureau's research on how best to present and explain the
residence rule (who to count) in specific situations will continue. The
Internet data collection instrument will include various ways to ask
about and confirm the number of persons residing at an address.
Respondents will see one of three screens about the enumeration of
people in their household: one that displays the Census Bureau's basic
residence rule, and then asks for the number of people in the household
based on that rule; One that asks for the number of people who live in
the household but provides our residence rule definition in the help
text; and one that asks if any other people live at the household, with
the residence rule in the help text. After the names of the roster
members are collected, the respondent will then see one of three series
of undercount detection questions: One series asks for additional
people on two separate screens, another series asks for additional
people on only one screen, or no undercount questions at all. After the
demographic items are collected, the respondent will then see overcount
detection questions or, if the case had not received undercount
questions, no overcount detection questions.
The materials mailed to the respondents will inform them that the
survey is mandatory in accordance with title 13, United States Code,
sections 141 and 193. This information also will be available via a
hyperlink from within the Internet instrument.
Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) Operation Testing
The 2016 Census Test will determine our 2020 Census methods for
conducting NRFU operations that will increase efficiency and reduce
costs. Based on previous tests, the Census Bureau will refine its
contact strategies and methods for field data collection, case
assignment management, and field staff administrative functions. This
will include further testing of how administrative records can be used
to reduce the NRFU workload.
As part of the 2016 Census Test, we will collect housing unit
status and enumerate the occupants of households that do not respond to
the self response phase of the census using automated enumeration
software on standard (iOS and Android operating system) smartphone
devices. The test will enable our continued study of options for
alternatives to using government furnished equipment. This includes
options for an enumerator to use their own smartphone for enumeration,
often known as ``Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)'', and options to use a
`Device as a Service' contract, where the Census Bureau will not own
the smartphone devices outright, but instead will pay a vendor for
their use, including any initialization and setup processes required.
This has the potential to mitigate risks to the operation. For example,
unpredictable increases in costs associated with device initialization
and hardware support. We will also continue to operationally test the
field data collection application we use on these devices. The devices
will use a modified version of the software used in the 2015 Census
Test, with updated capabilities for handling special non-interview
cases (such as demolished homes and non-existent addresses), better
handling of addresses with multiple units (like apartment buildings), a
clearer path for enumerators to take when attempting to collect data
from a householder's neighbor or another knowledgeable source, new
screens related to detecting potential ``overcount'' in a household
(scenarios where current household residents also lived at another
location, like student housing), and numerous other minor incremental
user interface and performance updates.
The Census Bureau also plans to test a newly redesigned portion of
our quality assurance activities--the NRFU Reinterview program (NRFU-
RI). We plan to test:
New methodologies for selecting cases to be reinterviewed,
including the potential use of operational control system data
(paradata) and administrative records to detect potential falsification
by enumerators
Using our automated field data collection instrument for
conducting these reinterviews
Using our recently re-designed operational control system
to optimize the routing and assignment of reinterview cases, and
Using the same field staff to conduct both NRFU interviews
and associated reinterviews, with an explicit rule within the
instrument that an enumerator is not allowed to reinterview their own
work.
All of these changes have the potential to lead to a more cost-
effective,
[[Page 69192]]
streamlined, and higher quality NRFU operation for the 2020 Census. We
will continue to test our newly re-engineered field infrastructure,
allowing us to refine our requirements for staffing ratios and position
duties for 2020 Census operations. We will also continue to test our
enhanced operational control system, using lessons learned from the
2015 Census Test to make further improvements to how assignments are
made and routed. We will continue to test improvements to our use of
systematic alerts that will quickly notify field supervisors of
potential problem enumerators, detect possible falsification, and
improve both quality and efficiency for the NRFU operation.
Additionally, we will continue to test our implementation of an
`adaptive design' contact strategy: Using a varied number of personal
visit attempts by geographic area based on criteria associated with
people who are harder to count. We also will study when is the optimal
point to discontinue attempts to collect information from each non-
responding household, and instead move to attempting to collect
information from a householder's neighbor or another knowledgeable
source.
Finally, we will build upon work from the 2013, 2014, and 2015
Census Tests in a continued attempt to refine and evaluate our use of
administrative records (including government and third-party data
sources) to reduce the NRFU workload. Cases will be removed from the
NRFU operation based on our administrative records modeling as follows:
Any case that is given a status of vacant from our
administrative records modeling will be immediately removed from the
NRFU workload; and
Any case that is given a status of occupied from our
administrative records modeling will be removed from the NRFU workload
after one unsuccessful attempt at field enumeration is made (as long as
good administrative records exist for that case).
Unlike previous tests, for all cases removed from the NRFU workload
in this way, we will test mailing these addresses a supplemental letter
to prompt a self response. If these cases do not self-respond, we will
enumerate the unit based on the results of our administrative records
modeling.
For a sample of the cases that would be removed via this criteria,
we will continue to perform the field followup activities. This will
allow us to compare the outcomes of those that get a completed
interview with our modeled status of the household, and determine the
quality of our administrative record modeling.
Coverage Reinterview
As described previously, the 2016 Census Test Internet instrument
contains embedded coverage experiments, and a reinterview is needed to
quantify the effects of each particular version on the roster provided
by the Internet respondent. The quality of the final household roster
created from the panels with experimentally applied questions will be
evaluated by a coverage reinterview conducted by telephone. Note that
these panels are used to evaluate the different residence rule
approaches used in the different questionnaire panels. The reinterview
will contain extensive questions about potentially missed roster
members and other places that any household members sometimes stay.
Specifically, the reinterview will re-contact responders to determine
if any people may have been left off the roster or erroneously included
on the roster during the initial response. If there are indications
during the reinterview that some people may have been left off the
roster, then we will ask for demographic information about the missed
people. If there are indications during the reinterview that some
people may have been erroneously included, then we will ask for
information about stay durations in order to resolve residency
situations. The reinterview will be a Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing (CATI) operation conducted in the Census Bureau's call
centers.
In addition to contacting Internet responders, a small portion of
people who responded by paper or as a part of NRFU will be selected for
the Coverage Reinterview. The inclusion of such cases will allow us to
quantify the quality of household rosters collected in these two other
modes.
Focus Groups
Following the end of data collection, the Census Bureau will
conduct focus groups with 2016 Census Test participants to ask about
their experience. Topics will include their opinions on the use of
administrative records by the Census Bureau. Participants also will be
asked about their general concerns with government data collection and
the government's ability to protect confidential data. The specific
information collection materials for those activities will be submitted
separately as non-substantive changes.
Testing in 2016 is necessary to build on the findings from prior
testing and to establish recommendations for contact strategies,
response options, and field operation efficiencies that can be further
refined and deployed again in subsequent operational and system
development activities. At this point in the decade, the Census Bureau
needs to solidify evidence showing whether the strategies being tested
can reduce the cost per housing unit during a decennial census, while
still providing high quality and accuracy of the census data. The
results of the 2016 Census Test from both sites will inform decisions
that the Census Bureau will make about refining the detailed
operational plan for the 2020 Census and will help guide the evaluation
of additional 2020 Census test results later this decade.
Along with other results related to content, the response rates to
paper and Internet collection will be used to help inform 2020 Census
program planning and cost estimates. Several versions of some of the
demographic questions and versions of coverage questions are included
in this test in order to determine further the best questions and
procedures for collecting the data from hard-to-count populations and
achieve optimal within-household person coverage within the decennial
census.
Testing enhancements to Non-ID processing will inform final
planning for the 2020 Census design, as well as the infrastructure
required to support large scale, real-time processing of electronic
Non-ID response data submitted via the Internet. Building upon previous
Census Tests, the NRFU portion of the 2016 Census Test will inform the
following important decisions for conducting the 2020 Census:
We will continue to research the cost and quality impact
of reducing the NRFU caseload through the use of administrative records
information, to inform our final strategy for the use of administrative
records. This test will also allow us to further define our core set of
administrative records that will be used for the 2020 Census, and our
strategies for acquiring and using those records. This research will
help us achieve our goal of a more cost-effective 2020 Census, while
maintaining quality of the results.
We will continue to research the cost and quality impacts
of new NRFU contact strategies that make use of adaptive design and a
re-engineered management structure employing automated payroll,
automated training, and minimal face-to-face contact between
enumerators and supervisors. Enumerators are asked to provide work-time
availability in advance, and the system then will assign the optimal
number of cases to attempt each day, as well as the optimal route to
follow that
[[Page 69193]]
day. Again, this operational research will help us towards our goal of
a more cost-effective 2020 Census, while maintaining quality of the
results.
We will be able to determine at what rate field staff are
willing to use their own personally owned devices to conduct Census
enumeration, and continue to develop our technical processes to enable
this to be done in a secure and cost-effective manner. We will also be
able to make quality and cost determinations about a `Device as a
Service' option, and be able to develop more mature cost models to
inform our decisions related to the device provision strategies for the
2020 Census NRFU operation.
We will be able to determine the cost and quality impacts
of our newly re-engineered NRFU Reinterview quality assurance program.
This data will inform our decision on an integrated and re-designed
approach to quality assurance for the 2020 Census.
Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
Frequency: One time.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, sections 141 and
193.
This information collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce
collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.
Dated: November 4, 2015.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-28416 Filed 11-6-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P